


Broken

by Jackal_san



Series: Broken Series [1]
Category: Ben 10 Series
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, M/M, Mad Universe, Mad World
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:55:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22125208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jackal_san/pseuds/Jackal_san
Summary: Beaten and broken by the people he once oppressed, Warlord Tennyson could swear that he saw Ben amongst the crowd that streamed for his suffering. A weakened hand reached for the other as a quiet cry for help escaped his lips. To Ben, all of that happened in a nightmare, one that shook him to his core. As nightmares of his counterpart being tortured haunt Ben each night without mercy, Ben wonders if maybe there is more to them than simple nightmares. After days of suffering without sleep, Ben finally decides to return to the former warlord’s world. Terror grips the young hero as his nightmares turn out to be a reality. With a world against his counterpart and the warlord’s war crimes piled as high as the stars, Ben is left with a choice. Save his counterpart from his bloody fate or leave him trapped in the endless cycle of suffering? But, can Ben truly save someone that was broken from the beginning?
Relationships: Ben Prime/Mad Ben, Mad Ben/Ben Tennyson
Series: Broken Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1592581
Comments: 8
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a rewrite for this story and also available on Wattpad and Fanfiction.net.  
> It's my personal favorite story and I've rewritten it so I can really give it the proper love that it deserves. It's got a whole new plot and more character development!  
> This story will also have a sequel once this one ends.  
> I hope you guys love it as much as I do!

A hero is a symbol of hope to the people. They are the protector of those that cannot defend themselves and they stand strong in the face of danger. With an unwavering will the challenge the odds. Heroes possess an open heart and mind and they never turn down a person in need. Without a second thought, they beat the bad guy and save the innocent.  
Ben was one of these heroes. No, that’s wrong. Ben was the greatest of these heroes. Defender of earth and savior of earth. The wielder of the Omnitrix and the greatest hero of all.  
Every day he spent saving someone from something. Big or small, Ben was there to save the day. Today was no different, well... Almost...  
\---  
“Why is there nothing happening? Everything’s just peaceful...” Ben sighed in annoyance. The young hero had sought to cure his boredom with once more tinkering with the scientific masterpiece on his arm.  
“Is that not a good thing?” The revonnahgander beside the teen asked. The alien’s eyes were glued to the road as the two patrolled the quiet streets of Bellwood.  
“Yeah... Just kinda boring. Also, if people are gonna good try something, better to just do it now and get the butt-kicking over with.” Ben replied with a pout as he glared out the window.  
“I do not believe that is how criminals think.” Rook replied after a moment of thought.  
Ben sighed in annoyance as he just let his mind wander.  
It had been over a year since he and Rook had defeated Maltruant. Life continued to go on as usual, but there was nothing too crazy that Ben could recall. Sure he’d bust crime and save the world, but there was nothing that really stuck out to him.  
His “normal” life or the one not involving his hero work was pretty normal. Gwen and Kevin were still together and at college. From what he knew, Gwen had the best grades on campus, not that Ben was surprised. Kevin was still trying to make his car invincible. Rook was still dating Rayona and Ben was pretty jealous of how perfect their relationship was. Kai... Well, their relationship was okay. Though Ben still didn’t really know why he was even still with her. They could barely stand being around each other and even when they got along, Ben could tell Kai was enjoying his company more than he was enjoying hers. Sometimes Ben wondered if the only reason they hadn’t broken things off was that his future self was married to Kai.  
“Ben... Are you even listening to me? Ben!” Rook had to pull Ben from his thoughts.  
“Huh? Did something happen? Someone needs a beat down!?” Ben asked excitedly.  
“Quite the opposite. Our patrol is over.” Rook replied as the young hero’s dreams were crushed to pieces. Glancing out the window, Ben noticed Rook had pulled up to Ben’s apartment to drop him off. Ben had finally managed to get his own apartment as he felt bad about waking his parents up all the time coming home from patrols on long nights.  
“Oh... Well, hopefully, tomorrow brings more excitement.” Ben replied optimistically as he jumped out of the truck.  
“Hopefully nothing too crazy.” Rook replied as he knew first hand just how crazy the life of Ben Tennyson could be.  
“Alright, cya tomorrow!” Ben waved to his partner as he headed inside.  
Ben’s apartment was pretty large for just one person. The owner of the complex had given him the best room on the top floor as thanks for his work in the Incursion invasion and saving the guys daughter. Ben was at least happy the guy wasn’t on the other end of the spectrum and worried about the place getting destroyed.  
Ben’s apartment had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full-size kitchen, and a spacious living room. Sometimes it was lonely, but Ben didn’t mind. He was hardly home anyway and he at least didn’t wake any roommates up.  
Two hours of gaming later and Ben was passed out on his bed as his dreams carried him to a strange world very similar and yet different from his own.  
\---  
The sun glared down at the green-eyed teen with a relentless hatred as if it had a personal vendetta against the young hero. Ben hovered a hand over his eyes to block the harsh rays from his face as his body moved on its own.  
Ben stood in the middle of a dessert as it was lifeless for miles in every direction. There were no signs of civilization as not a single cloud was seen in the sky. It felt familiar to Ben, but he didn’t know why.  
Ben didn’t know where he was walking, but he began walking. His body moved with any conscious effort from him.  
Slowly buildings crept their way onto the horizon, or what remained of them. The desert had swallowed most of the city that was Bellwood, or Benwood in this case.  
Ben noticed the sign immediately when entering the apocalyptic city. As he recognized it like the back of his hand as he immediately concluded this to be the world of his warlord counterpart. Ben learned not to question strange things, especially his dreams and he forgot most of them anyway when he woke up.  
Ben continued to walk through the town as he still knew little of where he was going. Though he was at least relieved when he found himself in an underground tunnel that burrowed deep into the ground. It was cooler in the tunnel and the sun’s harsh glare couldn’t reach him anymore. It seemed like it was new, or as new as a tunnel in a wasteland could be.  
The tunnels seemed to branch off into many directions as Ben continued to walk and an unknown path.  
Soon, the sound of yells reached the teen’s ears. Ben compared the sound to a bar on a football night as everyone screamed joyously at something.  
The sound grew louder as Ben got closer. Though he almost wished he hadn’t as now he could hear what the voices were saying. Needless to say, Ben didn’t particularly like what they said. People screaming for more brutality and more blood. They laughed and cheered as they called for more violence.  
Ben was horrified by the voices as he was fearful of what they were screaming at to suffer from this. He optimistically hoped it was a movie or a play, but he knew that wasn’t the truth.  
Stepping out into a massive room, Ben realized hundreds of people were gathered around an arena. The arena had a massive cage over it as people had even climbed up it as the looked down into the ring below.  
Ben’s foot carried him towards the caged arena as he wished he could just turn around and run, but his body wouldn’t allow it. People parted for him subconsciously as he walked up to the metal cage that was also adorned in spikes to keep whatever was inside the arena, inside.  
Ben froze in his place as he couldn’t believe what he was witnessing. His eyes were locked on the combatants inside the arena, though he could hardly even think of them as such. It was more of an attacker and a victim.  
A scream of pain tore from the smaller person’s throat as the audience’s cheers answered the scream.  
The victim weakly tried to drag himself away from his attacker as his body was beaten and bruised. Large gashes covered the male’s arms and legs as some were fresh. New and old blood stained the teen’s clothes and skin as Ben couldn’t even see the others face amongst the blood, dirt, and tears.  
“Hey! Where ya runnin’ off to now?” The attacker asked as the man slammed his foot down on the teens back hard. The smaller male gasped in pain as his body went limp. Ben silently wondered if the teen was dead, but something just told him he wasn’t.  
“Not so high and mighty now!” The man taunted as he kicked the teen harshly in the side to knock him onto his back. The teen weakly held onto to his injured side as the impact opened an old wound.  
The teen reminded Ben of an abused puppy that had been kicked one too many times. Something just told the young hero that the person he saw before him had lost their will to fight a long time ago and had lost all hope. The victim stared weakly up at his attacker as he showed no intention of fighting back.  
“This is a pitiful sight indeed! The Great Warlord Tennyson, beaten down by the people he once crushed beneath his feet like worms!” The man laughed as Ben’s blood ran cold. The world went silent around Ben as he stared at the teen lying limp on the ground.  
Ben couldn’t believe what he heard. The victim of so much pain and his wrathful counterpart were the same person. That wasn’t right. Right...?  
Ben got his answer as the teen received a harsh kick to the head. The victim's head jerked to the side as he struggled to keep himself conscious.  
Green met orange as Ben stared into the former warlord’s eyes. Orange eyes that once held enough intensity to burn the sun itself and crush anyone in their path without a second thought now looked hollow. They were a dull orange that seemed to have accepted their fate. They had submitted to this life of torment. An endless cycle of pain had finally crushed the teen’s will to fight.  
The young warlord’s eyes silently gazed over the crowd cheering for his screams and thriving off his pain. Though something changed when they landed on Ben.  
Ben expected the orange-eyed teen to glare at him with hatred or scream at him in rage. Ben expected to be cursed for bringing this upon his counterpart.  
That was hardly what happened.  
Ben saw a spark of hope behind those soulless eyes. A drop of life returned to the person people called a heartless monster.  
Slowly, a weakened hand reached out for Ben.  
“H-Help... Me...” A raspy voice called out to Ben as the words rang clear in the young hero’s ears like a bullet. The orange-eyed teen sounded like he hadn’t spoken a word in months, but the two words he did speak, they carried such fear and pain that Ben was shot to his core.  
\---  
Ben’s eyes snapped open as reality hit him like a train. He was almost blasted out of bed as he sat there for a long moment. Beads of sweat rolled down his face as his hands were shaking.  
Pushing help to his feet he made his way to the bathroom.  
Splashing his face with cold water, Ben watched the water run down the drain of the small dish as he tried to comprehend what happened.  
This wasn’t the kinda dream that faded the more you tried to remember it. No. This was the dream that you remembered with terrifying detail. He could recall every second of the dream and his counterpart’s words still rang in his head.  
“It’s just some dumb nightmare...” Ben said to convince himself more than anything else.  
Shutting the sink off, Ben returned to his bed as he noted it only to be six in the morning. Groaning in annoyance, Ben crashed down onto the bed to get some sleep.  
Sleep avoided the young hero like the plague as his mind was just filled with what he saw in his nightmare.  
Over and over Ben told himself it was just some stupid dream, but somewhere in the back of his mind, he felt it was very much reality.


	2. Dream of Another World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! As promised, I’m still here!  
> Now... On with the story!

The villain is the people’s greatest fear. They unleash their wrath upon the weak and are never satisfied. They strive for more power and are willing to do whatever it takes to win. The hero beats the villain and the villain silently plots their revenge in return.  
Warlord Tennyson was one of these people. He was the villain that built a throne for himself on a mountain of corpses. Without hesitation or mercy, he enslaved hundreds and slaughtered plenty more.  
If you asked him, he would say he did what he did because he had no choice... But no one ever asked him...  
\---  
“Wake up!” A harsh voice snapped as the former warlord felt a hard blow to the side of his head that pulled him from his dreamless sleep. It was either that or nightmares that plagued the teen. He would much rather have the dreamless sleep, though that wasn’t what he usually got.  
Slowly, orange eyes blinked open to stare up at the person that had pulled him from his sleep.  
It had been over a year since he had been dethroned and his life had only gone downhill since. The days became one as he had no way of telling time, nor would he really care to. When the suffering first began he tried to, but eventually he found that to be pointless. No matter how much time had passed, his life didn’t change.  
There was a time that Mad, as he was nicknamed by Eon, tried to fight back. He used to kick and scream in rage. He’d curse the people that hurt him and swear that they would pay. He’d plot escape plans that always failed and he planned his revenge on the person that put him there.  
But as the weeks drew on, he lost that drive. With each beating, he lost a little more of himself. Any strength he had left to fight was gone. The once-powerful warlord was now just a shell of his former self.  
Mad hardly even registered his arms being freed as they fell limp against the floor. Normally, he was chained to the cold stone wall as his arms were spread apart and held in place by heavy iron chains. Even when his arms were free, it didn’t matter. The metal clasp over his wrist prevented him from touching the device that people feared so much.  
Mad had actually even come to hate the watch embedded into his very DNA. Things he shouldn’t have been able to survive, he could. His body healed faster than a human should heal. These used to be gifts, now they were curses that his enemies used to torture him more.  
The former warlord was forced to his feet as he was forced to walk to a place he knew all too well. Various loud voices reached the teen’s ears as he was dragged along the underground tunnels.  
At the beginning of his rule, Mad created an underground city with various connecting tunnels. It was safer underground as they were protected from the harsh glares of the sun and the flesh-tearing sandstorms. It was also harder for people to try and raid his underground fortress and it was harder to spot as well. Though his underground empire had now become his prison.  
The people they passed would curse and spit at him as he paid them no heed. It was not as bad as the suffering he knew he was about to endure.  
The voices grew louder as he was dragged into a large arena. Metal beams adorned in spikes that kept the combatants in.  
There was a time when Mad loved this arena. He used to love everything about it. The battles fought, the screaming voices, the blood flying. Now, he hated it. Almost every day he was dragged into the arena, at least he thought it was almost every day.  
Hundreds of voices yelled at him as he entered the arena. Many of them mocked him, cursed him, told him he finally was getting what he deserved. Mad ignored them. They just screamed the same thing over and over again.  
The escorts left the teen in the middle of the arena as he knew what was happening next as a large man entered the room. A crooked smile was on his lips as he knew he would enjoy every second of this.  
Mad didn’t bother fighting back or running, it didn’t do him much good. He just let the man have his pleasure using him as a punching bag. And when the man ran out of time and left, another person took his place. Sometimes he would weakly try to pull himself away from the attacker, not like it stopped the attacks or anything like that.  
Some days were better than others. Sometimes it was just beatings. Other times it was torture sessions. Mad had a hunch people paid for certain events with food or something, though he didn’t care. He didn’t get whatever they paid after all. He mainly got rotten or stale food, when people bothered to feed him.  
Over and over he was beaten. He no longer held back his screams as none of it mattered anymore. They escaped his lips as people cheered for more.  
Finally, the last person of the night entered the arena. Every night ten people got the ‘honor’ of beating him senseless. This was the tenth person.  
The man spoke to him as Mad didn’t bother trying to focus on what he said. His head hurt too much for that and it was always the same things said.  
After the man was done saying whatever he had to say, he did like all the rest before him had done.  
By this point, his body was so beaten and bruised. The blood stained his skin and clothes as everything screamed in pain. Instinctively he tried to drag himself away from the man as he didn’t make it far.  
“Hey! Where ya runnin’ off to now?” His attacker asked as the man slammed his foot down on the former warlords back hard.  
Mad just let his body relax as he knew he didn’t have the strength to escape the man.  
“Not so high and mighty now!” The man taunted as he kicked Mad harshly in the side to knock him onto his back. The orange-eyed teen weakly held onto his injured side as the impact had opened an old wound.  
“This is a pitiful sight indeed! The Great Warlord Tennyson, beaten down by the people he once crushed beneath his feet like worms!” The man laughed at him as he received a harsh blow to the side of his head.  
Mad made no effort to move his head back and look the man in the eyes. Instead, he slowly looked over the crowd. The people he once ruled over now screamed for his blood. The fear they once held in their eyes was gone, excitement and joy had taken its place.  
Though one person caught his attention. Two emerald green eyes stared at him as Mad’s vision slowly focused on the person.  
He knew he had to be hallucinating again as his gaze settled on the person that dethroned him. The person that subjected him to this life of torment stared back at him in shock. Amongst the crowd stood Ben Prime.  
Mad should have felt some kind of rage towards the other, he should have resented him with everything he had left. But instead, he found himself reaching out towards the other. For some strange reason, Mad felt like he could place his hope in the other.  
“H-Help me...” Mad rasped out as his voice burned when he spoke. He hadn’t spoken in a long time and his voice was hoarse from the screaming. But he put everything into those two words, even if it was just a hallucination.  
“No one’s coming to help you.” The man said to Mad as he slammed his foot down hard on the former warlord's arm.  
Mad stared back at where Ben was but was disappointed as the hallucination was gone. He should have known better. Not even his own mind would give him a happy moment like that, it was just taunting him.  
The man left the arena as Mad was dragged back to his cell and chained up, same as always. Mad just closed his eyes to get maybe a few hours of sleep before it all began again.  
\---  
Blinking a few times, Mad was surprised to find himself in a perfectly, not destroyed, city. The skyscrapers actually lived up to their namesake and cars drove calmly down the roads. People walked about the streets and wore normal attire, not something Mad was used to seeing.  
The orange-eyed teen then noted his surroundings as he seemed to be outside at a fast-food restaurant.  
Though he found the strangest part was that he was perfectly at ease. Something he hadn’t felt in years, not since the beginning of the end of the world at least.  
“... I mean seriously! I’ve had three people this week after me for the watch! You’d think they’d learn.” A voice captured the former warlord's attention as he turned to face the voice.  
Needless to say, he was surprised to find Ben Prime to be the one ranting about his most recent fights.  
“You ok? You look like you’ve seen a ghost or something.” Ben said to him casually as if the two had been friends for years.  
Mad noted the other’s posture as being completely relaxed as he casually sipped on the drink in hand.  
“Um... Yeah. I’m fine.” Mad awkwardly replied to the other as Ben once more continued on with whatever story he was telling.  
Mad was confused by what was happening, but strangely enough, it felt normal. Like this was just his daily life.  
How he wished he could have a normal life like this... Though he would have more luck finding a unicorn than getting a normal life. But maybe here, in this dream, he could have that.  
Just for a moment, he could pretend to be normal. And thus he would do just that.  
Mad listened to the random stories the green-eyed teen shared as he didn’t want it to end. It was nice and peaceful, two things he wasn’t used to.  
\---  
Some people just weren’t meant to have nice things. Mad was one of these people as he was pulled back into the waking world.  
Nothing particular awoke him, though it was most likely his body just always being in fight or flight mode that he was robbed of the dream. The first dream in months actually.  
“Why the fuck was he there?” Mad wondered as he stared at the ceiling of his cell.  
He didn’t understand why he hallucinated and dreamed about the person that threw him from his throne. Prime had ruined his life. But in his dream, the green-eyed teen treated him like a friend and Mad couldn’t understand why for the life of him.  
And the strangest part about it all... He felt a strange trust and hope about seeing the other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Stay safe and wash your hands!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed and don’t worry! No matter what happens, I will not abandon this story! It’s my pride and joy! No matter how long it takes, I will complete this story!  
> Thank you so much and see you next time!


End file.
